Dwyane Wade's 45 power Heat past Rockets 125-119

December 30, 2010|By Shandel Richardson, South Florida Sun Sentinel

HOUSTON — The Heat are no strangers to receiving an opponent's best on the road.

As forward LeBron James said before Wednesday's game against the Houston Rockets, it just helps the Heat bring their "A-game." That might have not been enough this time, so the Heat brought along their "D-game," too.

As in Dwyane Wade.

With a little urging from the Rockets, Wade and the Heat took their play to another level in a 125-119 victory at Toyota Center. The Heat, winners of 16 of 17, became the first team in NBA history to win 10 road games in the same calendar month.

Wade led the Heat for a second straight night, scoring a game-high 45 points. Wade was coming off a 40-point performance against the New York Knicks on Tuesday at AmericanAirlines Arena. The back-to-back 40-pointers tie the franchise record, accomplished twice by Wade.

"They absoutely love a game like this, scoring over 125 points," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I hate these type of games, but in the second half we did start to defend better and were closer to our identity. ÃƒÂ‚Ã‚Â… It's a road win. You can never discount how tough it is to win when you're away from your own building."

The Heat have often used the third quarter to take control. Things were no different against the Rockets. The opening moments after halftime were when the Heat began to rally from an unexpected first-half deficit.

Miami started the offensive fireworks with a 35-point first quarter, but still were forced to play catch-up to the surging Rockets. Houston entered as one of the hottest teams in the Western Conference. Despite losing All-Star center Yao Ming for the season, it had put together a five-game winning streak and won eight straight at home.

The good fortune continued when forward Luis Scola and reserve guard Aaron Brooks led the Rockets to 34 second-quarter points. It erased the Heat's fast start, giving the Rockets a 62-59 lead at halftime.

That was the wakeup call the Heat needed.

Trailing 76-67 with 8:13 left in the third quarter, the Heat were up against the Rockets' largest crowd of the season (18,409). As the hometown cheers grew stronger, so did Wade and the Heat's offense.

Behind Wade, who shot 17 of 24 from the field, the Heat shifted into a higher gear offensively. They shot 58 percent for the game, allowing it to quickly erase the deficit. After James (20 points) hit a jumper to tie it at 82, forward James Jones gave the Heat their first second-half lead on a 3-pointer with 1:34 left.

The fast offensive pace ended the Heat's streak of 16 games of holding the opponent under 100 points. The 119 points were the most allowed by the Heat this season.

Miami began to create separation in the fourth quarter when Wade was flagrant fouled by Brooks on a breakaway dunk attempt. Wade left the court holding his nose and his lip bleeding, but returned after a timeout to hit both free throws. On the Heat's next possession, he completed a three-point play after being fouled by Courtney Lee to make it 97-89.

"It doesn't feel that nice now," Wade said of his lip. "It's part of the game, hard fouls are just part of basketball."

The Rockets pulled to within four, but had no answer for Wade. He scored another three-point play to give the Heat a seven-point lead. Then after drawing the defense, he found an open Mario Chalmers for a three-point attempt. Chalmers was fouled and made all three free throws, making it 103-95.

Still, the Heat were never able to fully relax. They led by nine with less than two minutes to play until a 3-pointer by guard Kyle Lowry pulled the Rockets to within five, 117-112. After Scola, who led the Rockets with 22 points, drew a charge on Wade, Houston's Kevin Martin hit a short jumper to make it a three-point game with 57.2 seconds remaining.

The Heat clinched courtesy of the unlikeliest of heroes when center Joel Anthony made two free throws after being fouled on an offensive rebound. The Rockets' rally ended when Brooks missed a 3-pointer from the wing.